First of all, I’m sure there are any number of folks here that some of us are convinced clearly do need to be “deprogrammed”.
Me, I call them “objectivists”. Usually though the subject is the victim of one or another religious cult. That [often] they do not see themselves as victims however is the rub. Instead, the impetus generally comes from another – a family member or a close friend or a loved one. It is from their perspective that the victim is seen to be “brainwashed”.
But that’s another rub. After all, you may find yourself just as critical of their own frame of mind.
Who after all is really to say when another is brainwashed? If, in fact, they are not deemed [by others] as being brainwashed themselves.
Deprograming someone means, first of all, kidnapping them. You forcibly take them away from the group against their will and try to convince them to abandon it in a context in which the group is no longer there to defend itself. It all comes down to a tug of “wills”.
The tricky part is that before the deprogram option is chosen, you might still have contact with your loved one. But if the deprogramming fails, you might lose all contact with him or her forever. And there are more failures than successes.
Still, for most of us, it always comes down to how we feel about the cult itself – about its values and its agenda. As opposed to the values and the agenda of those who want the “victim” back. It’s always just a point of view. So, you’ll either have a dog in the fight or you won’t.
Ah, but then there’s the part that revolves around Mick and Terry. The part where it is all about the money. The, uh, “grubby” part. In fact, one way or another in our “post-modern” world it always ends up being about the money. Doesn’t it?
So, you might ask yourself, how close to or far removed from this is your “typical” effort to deprogram someone? That’s not for me to say. But I’m guessing it’s not even in the ballpark. More like being deprogramed in the Twilight Zone.
Let’s just say that nothing here is ever really what it seems.
Thy will be done.
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faults_(film
trailer: youtu.be/pnnbhJSX75U
FAULTS [2014]
Written and directed by Riley Stearns
[b]Ansel [to his audience]: This is the most basic freedom. I’m talking about free will. Choice. Making a choice for yourself based on what life gives you. That is free will. But what if someone else is in control? What if they control your physical body? Your mind’s every thought? Your emotional well-being? Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, cults do thus. They exploit the fact that inside every single one of us is the capacity to be captivated. To be manipulated. To be controlled. They exploit our weaknesses and remove us from those who care about you. They create emptional and physical barriers, distancing you from everyone and everything you once knew, including yourself. They mold you. They conform you. Even with that voice in the back of your head screaming “get out!” most give in. When another human being makes descisions for you, your free will ceases to be. You’re a follower.
…
Paul: We were wondering if we might be able to talk to you about our daughter, Claire.
Ansel: It has been a long day. I need to get some sleep.
Paul: We believe she is in a very dangerous situation. No one has been able to get through to her. Dr. Roth, people like you don’t have ads in the Yellow Pages. We do not know where else to turn.
Ansel: To be perfectly honest, anything I would say to you would be a half-assed version of something on a page in that book in your hand. And I just don’t give a shit anymore.
…
Ansel: What is the name of this group?
Paul: They call themselves “Faults”.
Ansel: Oh, I haven’t heard of that one. Who’s the founder?
Paul: We don’t know. Uh, no one knows anything about them. We don’t know how Claire came to find them.
Ansel: Well, when is the last time you spoke to her?
Paul: About a week ago on the phone.
Ansel: And what did she say?
Paul: She told me that she had found God. That she had made love to Him the night before while the others weatched.
…
Ansel: Are you familiar with deprogramming?
Paul: Is that what you did with the man from last night? With his sister?
Ansel: Yes, we would forcibly take your daughter away from the group.
Paul: You’re talking about kidnapping my Claire?
Ansel: Under the legal definition, yes. But it’s for her own good. We would take her far away. Someplace where she would not know where she was, but more importantly, where no one else would be able to find her. I would begin the process of breaking her down. Making her question the group’s beliefs and their innate contradictions.
…
Paul: What are the chances of something like this working?
Ansel: Well, in the end there is 50% chance you will get your daughter back.
Evelyn: And a 50% chance that we’ll lose her forever.
Paul: Evelyn…
Ansel: No, she’s absolutely right. I need to be honest with you. The chances of this working are even less than that. This is extremely dangerous for everyone involved. Especially Claire.
…
Ansel: Well, thank you for the breakfast, Paul and Evelyn. That does bring me to one last point. If you do decide to go through with what we just talked about doing…I don’t know how to say this without sounding insensitive but, well, it will not be cheap.
…
Ansel: My name is Ansel Roth. I specialize in helping people who are lost amd who might be under the control of others.
Claire: I’m not lost. I found myself and I choose to live my life the way I live it because God wills it.[/b]
Oh boy, here we go. Unless, of course, all is not what it seems.
[b]Ansel: What is going on inside your head right now.
Claire: I’m thinking about how I want to rip your tongue out of your throat to shut you up. That you’re close enough that I could strangle you with my bare hands and that I’d like to. I’m just waitng for a sign from God.
…
Ansel: How old are you?
Claire: Age doesn’t mean anything.
Ansel: You mean in the group?
Claire: The time it takes the earth to circle around the sun. Why? Why does that matter? It’s an abstraction. Why is earth so special? Time means nothing in eternity.
…
Evelyn: Our baby. Our Claire.
[Claire backs aways from her]
Evelyn: What…?
Ansel: No, it’s alright. She’s not really associating with that identity right now. But that’s alright.
Paul: Well, what’s that supposed to mean?
Ansel: There are two identites in a case like this. The before identity, before the cult, and the cult identity.
Paul: What do we call her then?
Ansel: Terms of affection are fine. Baby, sweetie, honey. Whatever you called her back when things were normal.
Paul: We never called her honey.
Ansel: Don’t call her that, then.
…
Claire: We are all weighed down by our physical form.
Ansel: What does that mean?
Claire: Each level means a piece of control.
Ansell: But that doesn’t really mean anything, does it? You have to see they are teaching you these vague terms and unprovable ideas.
Claire: No, no. Control means all matters loses meaning. Control of oneself means control of others. It even changes the way others perceive our image, our light.
Ansel: Our light? Are you talking about invisibility? Have you witnessed this?
Claire: I have.
Ansell: Can you tell me what happens when you reach the the final level. When you become free.
Claire: One moves on.
Ansel: And where do the people who move on go?[/b]
And on and on and on, exchanging “frames of minds” anchored more or less to “worlds of words” that trigger particular psychological reactions. Unless, of course, all is not what it seems.
[b]Paul: My daughter looks beautiful in those clothes. When she come back in you’re going to tell her she looks beautiful.
Ansel: I’m not going to tell her that.
Paul: Remember who’s paying you.
[Claire comes back in wearing the clothes Paul and Evelyn brought]
Ansel: You look beautiful.
…
Evelyn: I still don’t understand what it is we did.
Claire: You didn’t do anything. That’s the point.
Paul: We fed you, we put a roof over your head.
Claire: You make it sound like an obligation.
Paul: Maybe that’s because it was.
Ansel: We’re not here to pass blame.
Paul: But we all are here because of her. Oh, I can’t wait for this to be over with! Just give me back my baby!!
Claire: I’m not going home with you.
Paul: Yes you are!
Claire: I’m not!
Paul: Well, slit your wrist right now then, because that’s where you’re going to end up if all of this doesn’t stop.
…
Ansel: I’m done. This…I’m leaving.
Claire: But you can’t.
Ansel: I have free will.
Claire: What about the money? That’s what this is for you, isn’t it?
Ansel: No, no, that’s…that’s what it was. I have no idea what any of this is anymore.
[aloud to himself: “You have free will, you have free will, you have free will.”]
Claire: But you need the money. And I need you here. You can’t leave me.
…
Claire: Lick my face, Ansel. Lick me.
Ansell: What?!
Claire: I’m going to need you to sleep now, Ansel.
Ansel: What are you doing to me?
Claire: I’m in control.
…
Claire: Why are you a failure?
Ansel: Because I’ve only ever been good at one thing. All of this was her fault.
Claire: Your wife?
Ansel: No, a girl.
Claire: What was her name?
Ansel: Jennifer.
Claire: Who was Jennifer?
Ansel: Do you know the Universal Conference? We did one of these exactly like this with her.
Claire: What happened?
Ansel: I did everything I was supposed to do. She questioned her choices, went home with her family. But her family didn’t put in the work.
Claire: She was the one on your show. You had her on two days after the group suicide. No one had access to her like you did.
Ansel: We flew her out, and it was all expenses paid. It was supposed to be a vacation for her.
Claire: You exploited your relationship with her.
Ansel: No.
Clire; You did it for the ratings.
Ansel: No.
Claire: You knew whe was fragile and yet you put her out there for the world to judge.
Ansel: She agreed to it all. How could I have know she still felt a connection to the Concurrence?
Claire: How could you not have known? You pressed her. You opened the wound. You gave her the knife and she slit her wrists with it.
Ansel: She wanted to be with them. She made that choice. She had free will.
Claire: Did she really?
…
Clire: Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t blame yourself for Jennifer’s death?
Ansel: Everyone dies.
Claire: No! Look at me. Listen to my words. Feel them. Are you to blame for Jennifer’s death?
Ansel [succumbing]: I was in control. I used her. I could’ve helped her, but I chose not to. I made that choice.
Claire: And that choice cost you everything.
Ansel: Yes.
Claire: Tell me what you lost.
Ansel: My show, my money, my house, my wife…
Claire: No! Those are things. What did you lose?
Ansel: Every kind of respect.[/b]
And now it is time to “deprogram” Terry.
[b]Ansel: Do you know what a fault is, Terry?
Terry: This is your fault!
Ansel: Not “fault”. A fault.
Terry: What the heck are you talking about?
Ansel: A fault is a fracture. It’s a place where pressure builds and builds until it releases.
…
Ansel: Where am I going?
Claire: Home. [/b]